It’s Not You, It’s Us

itch.io

Project Description

It’s Not You, It’s Us is a 3D point and click adventure game about a group of animal characters coming together to make their town a better place.

It was made over the course of 8 weeks with a team of 13 students consisting of designers, artists and programmers.

The project was commissioned by Transversal Professor of Sustainability Frans Melissen to open a dialogue between students about sustainability challenges in a workshop setting.

INYIU won Best Design during the Industry Showcase Day at Breda University of Applied Sciences!

It was also showcased in the Stedelijk Museum of Breda!

Creating Level Ingredients

I designed every level ingredient in the game, with each ingredient being tied to a specific character’s ability. For example, the duck character is able to water plants and fill up holes. these abilities would allow you to complete simple quests and gain access to new areas to unlock even more characters.

All ingredients needed to:

  • Tie back to a sustainable message/action

  • Serve as a lock & key for new areas

  • Be related to the animal’s characteristics

  • Understood with a simple click

Dynamic Music System

I wanted It’s Not You, It’s Us to be an emotional experience, and the best way to acchieve that is through music. I was inspired by a Pokemon game to make a music system that evolves overtime throughout the game. The soundtrack starts with only a single instrument, but builds up to a beautiful orchestra that makes the player feel like they go from a small initiative, to a big one.

To achieve this in the game, I created a sound system that plays seperate tracks for each instrument, but muted, except for one. Then, by activating specific events, like completing quests, the volume is raised on the determined instrument. That way, each unlocked character has an instrument tied to them and can perfectly weave into the music that’s already playing.

If you wanna hear it in action, give the video a listen!

Project Highlights

  • Designed level ingredients that fit the theme and message of the game.

  • Created Character Abilities & Level Ingredients for each playable character.

  • Prototyped a Dynamic Music System that changes the soundtrack over the course of gameplay.

  • Supported in the Level Design process by creating a section of the level and polishing the edge of world.

Prototyping mechanics

During our pre-production phase, I decided to make some quick iterations of some mechanics I had in mind. One of these was a hedgehog character, able to roll around and paint areas by rolling through color. This would allow players some self-expression, be unique to that animal, and be easy to control and understand. Later in the project, I showed this initial prototype to a programmer on the team, and together we were able to add the painting character into the game.

Here you can see a first and final version of that character.